On January 7, 1999, the impeachment trial of President
Bill Clinton, formally charged with lying under oath and
obstructing justice, began in the Senate.

As instructed in Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution,
Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist was
sworn in to preside, and the senators were sworn in
as jurors.

Congress had only attempted to remove a president on
one other occasion: the 1868 impeachment trial of
President Andrew Johnson, who incurred the Republican
Party’s wrath after he had proposed a conservative
Reconstruction plan.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist (top left) swearing in senators.

February 12, 1999.